Knowledge, health seeking behavior and barriers for treatment of reproductive tract infections among married women of reproductive age in Delhi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20210310Keywords:
Reproductive tract infections, knowledge, Barriers, Treatment seeking behaviorAbstract
Background: Reproductive tract infections including sexually transmitted infections are an important public health problem among women of reproductive age group in developing countries. The perceptions or taboos related to RTIs act as an obstacle for seeking treatment ultimately leading to complications. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, health seeking behavior and barriers for treatment of reproductive tract infections among married women of reproductive age in Delhi.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was undertaken in an urban field practice area of department of Community Medicine of VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi from November 2017 to April 2019. Sample size of 270 was collected using predesigned and pre- tested questionnaire by systematic random sampling.
Results: Mere 16.6% of the women knew about symptoms of RTI/STIs. Out of 81 women having RTI/STI in past 3 months 30% did not seek treatment and out of 70% who took treatment for RTI, 30% did not complete treatment. Majority of the women who sought treatment preferred government hospital. The main barrier for seeking treatment was embarrassment, not considering it as an important health problem, lack of time.
Conclusions: The overall knowledge about symptoms, mode of spread of RTIs/STIs was very poor among the study participants. Women seeking treatment are not completing it. Thus, there is need to emphasize on spreading knowledge about symptoms, mode of spread, need for treatment and its completion and clearing barriers related to RTI/STI among women.
References
World Health Organization. Factsheet sexually transmitted infections (STIs) Updated June 2019. Available at http:// www. who. int/ news-room/newsletter. Accessed on 10 April 2020.
Nielsen A, Lan PT, Marrone G, Phuc HD, Chuc NTK, Lundborg CS. Reproductive tract infections in rural vietnam women’s knowledge and health-seeking behavior: a cross-sectional study. Health Care Women Int. 2016;37:392-411.
Nagarkar A, Mhaskar P. A systematic review on the prevalence and utilization of health care services for reproductive tract infections/sexually transmitted infections: Evidence from India. Indian J Sex Transm Dis AIDS. 2015;36(1):18-25.
Shingade PP, Kazi Y, Lh M. Treatment seeking behavior for sexually transmitted infections/reproductive tract infections among married women in urban slums of Mumbai, India. South East Asia J Public Health. 2015;5:65-70.
Wijgert JH, Morrison CS, Brown J, Kwok C, Pol B, Chipato T, et al. Disentangling contributions of reproductive tract infections to HIV acquisition in African Women. Sex Transm Dis. 2009;36:357-64.
Puthuchira RR, Athimulam KR. Care seeking behaviour and barriers to accessing services for sexual health problems among women in rural areas of Tamilnadu State in India. J Sex Transm Dis. 2014;2014:292157.
Verma A, Kumar J, Meena, Banerjee B. A comparative study of prevalence of RTI/STI symptoms and treatment seeking behaviour among the married women in rural and uban areas of Delhi. Int J Reprod Med. 2015;563031:1-8.
Pandey B, Shukla DK. Socio-economic determinants of reproductive tract infections affecting the women (15-49 years): a cross sectional study in a tertiary care hospital of Chhattisgarh. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2018;5(7):3130-5.
Rabiu KA, Adewunmi AA, Makinlusi A, Akinola O I. Female reproductive tract infections: understanding and care seeking behavior among women of reproductive age in Lagos, Nigeria. BMC Women’s Health. 2010;10:8.
Hegde SK, Agrawal T, Ramesh N, Sugara M, Joseph PM, Singh S, Thimmaiah S. Reproductive tract infections among women in a peri-urban under privileged area in Bangalore, India: Knowledge, prevalence, and treatment seeking behavior. Ann Trop Med Public Health. 2013;6:215-20.
Nigam VS, Srivastava VK. Knowledge about sexually transmitted disease (STD) among the women in a rural population of Uttar Pradesh. IJMSCI. 2018;5:3966-9.
Chaudhry R, Majrooh A, javed s. understanding and care seeking behavior of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases among married women attending a tertiary care hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. Biomedica. 2013;29:175-80.
Bhilwar M, Pannalal, Sharma N, Bhalla P, Kumar A. Prevalence of reproductive tract infections and their determinants in married women residing in an urban slum of North-East Delhi, India. J Nat Sci Bio Med. 2015;6:S29-S34.
Ratnaprabha GK, Thimmaiah S, Johnson AR, Ramesh N. Prevalence and awareness of reproductive tract infections among women in selected underpriviledged areas of Banglore City. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2015;4:1691-6.
Devi BS, Swarnalatha N. Prevalence of RTI/STI among reproductive age women (15-49 years) in urban slums of Tirupati town, Andhra Pradesh. Health Popul Perspect Issues. 2007;30:56-70.
Khargekar VC, Koujalgi S. A study on the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections, the health care seeking behavior and the barriers for the treatment of sexually transmitted infections in the urban slums of Davangere. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2015;4:823-8.
Li C, Han HR, Lee JE, Lee M, Kim MT. Knowledge, behaviour and prevalence of reproductive tract infections: a descriptive study on rural women in Hunchun, China. Asian Nurs Res (Korean Soc Nurs Sci). 2010;4:122-2.
Chellan R. Socio-demographic determinants of reproductive tract infection and treatment seeking behaviour in rural Indian women. New Delhi: Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Available at http:// paa 2007. princeton. edu/ download. aspx?submissionId=70668. Accessed on 14 February 2020.
Mathew L, Ansuya, Francis LA. Percieved barriers for utilization of health care system among married women with gynaecological morbidity in Udupi Taluk, Karnataka. Indian J Public Health Development. 2016;9:85-8.
